ebl miller rosenfalck is committed to providing a high quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards.
Our complaints procedure
If you have a concern or a complaint, please contact us as soon as you are aware of the problem so this can be addressed. You can contact the Designated Partner as identified in your Client Care Letter or our Complaints Partner at 27 Greville Street, London EC1N 8SU.
If you raise a complaint, we will:
1. send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within seven days of our receiving the complaint, enclosing a copy of this procedure and our Client Complaint Form.
2. investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to our Complaints Partner who will review your matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.
3. invite you to a meeting to discuss and, it is hoped, resolve your complaint. We will do this within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
4. within five working days of the meeting, our Complaints Partner will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions that were agreed with you.
5. If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, our Complaints Partner will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including his/her suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
6. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again to explain why you remain unhappy with our response and we will review your comments. Depending on the matter we may at this stage arrange for another partner to review the decision.
7. We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
8. If you are still not satisfied, you can then contact the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) at PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH about your complaint. Any complaint to the LeO must usually be made within 6 months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint.
9. Your complaint should also be brought to the LeO within six years from when the problem first occurred (or within three years from when you first became aware of the problem, if it happened more than six years ago). From 1 April 2023, the time limits for referring a complaint to the LeO are no later than: • one year from the date of the act or omission being complained about; or • one year from the date when the complainant should have realised that there was cause for complaint.
10. Please note that the Legal Ombudsman may not deal with a complaint about a bill if you have applied to the court for assessment of that bill. For further information, you should contact Legal Ombudsman on 0300 555 0333 or refer to www.legalombudsman.org.uk.
11. You may also have a right to object to the bill by applying to the Court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974.
12. Alternative complaints bodies (such as Ombudsman Services, ProMediate and Small Claims Mediation) exist which are competent to deal with the complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. We would also refer you to the online platform.
If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.
Reviewed October 2023